NEW BRUNSWICK — In a courtroom crowded with reporters and photographers, a Georgia truck driver pleaded not guilty today to one count of vehicular homicide and four counts of assault by auto in the fatal crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that left the actor and comedian Tracy Morgan critically injured.

Kevin Roper, 35, of Jonesboro, Ga., said only a few words at the five-minute hearing before Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz in New Brunswick.

Ferencz released Roper on the $50,000 bail that had been set on Saturday, noting that his motor vehicle record "does not show a history (of violations)."

Roper, dressed in a white shirt and black pants, kept his head down during the hearing and ignored questions from reporters in the hallway of the Middlesex County Courthouse as he left with his lawyer, David Glassman.

The attorney also refused to comment and asked sheriff’s officers to make room so they could get into a vehicle.

During the court proceedings, Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Sheree Pitchford asked the judge to continue the $50,000 bail, the amount set after Roper was charged Saturday.

Video: Truck driver Kevin Roper in courtTruck driver Kevin Roper attends his first appearance at the Middlesex County Courthouse. Roper is charged in the accident that injured comedian Tracy Morgan. (video by John O'Boyle)

Authorities charge that Roper, a driver for Wal-Mart, had not slept for more than 24 hours before getting behind the wheel of his tractor-trailer.

But a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said Roper, who has been placed on administrative leave, "was operating within the federal hours of service regulations."

"The details are the subject of the ongoing investigation and we are cooperating fully with the appropriate law enforcement agencies," spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said.

"The investigation is ongoing, and unfortunately we can’t comment further on the specifics."

DRIVER FATIGUE

In 2003, New Jersey became the first state to make it a crime of vehicular homicide for causing a fatal accident while driving drowsy.

The statute, known as Maggie’s Law, makes it illegal for a driver who has been awake longer than 24 hours to operate a vehicle.

The issue of driver fatigue is a timely one, coming as the U.S. Senate considers rolling back a 70-hour cap on a trucker’s workweek that went into effect last July, limiting driving to 11 hours a day.

The law was named for 20-year-old Maggie McDonell, who was killed in 1997 when a driver awake longer than 24 hours crossed three lanes of traffic and slammed her car head-on.

FATAL CRASH

Morgan and his friends were returning from a performance at Dover Downs Casino in Delaware when the crash occurred about 1 a.m. Saturday in the northbound lanes of the Turnpike.

The comedian suffered a broken leg, broken nose and several broken ribs in the crash that killed James McNair, 62, a comedian known as Jimmy Mack. McNair, of Peekskill, N.Y., wrote for Morgan and was a close friend.

Ardie Fuqua, 43, a comic from Jersey City, Morgan, and his assistant, Jeffrey Millea, 26, of Shelton, Conn., were still listed in critical but stable condition this afternoon at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

Harris Stanton, 37, of Brooklyn, N.Y., another passenger in the van, was treated at the hospital and released.

Authorities said Roper failed to see slow-moving traffic ahead of his rig as he passed through Cranbury, slamming into the rear of Morgan’s van and causing a chain reaction involving four other vehicles, including another tractor-trailer.

The investigation into the crash is being led by the State Police and the National Transportation Safety Board. The U.S. Department of Transportation said Monday that its investigators were also involved.

Morgan is best known for his work on the NBC television programs "30 Rock" and "Saturday Night Live."